The present invention relates to restraints for the sides of beds and more particularly to side restraints which can be raised and lowered.
The provision of side rails along each longitudinal side of a bed to prevent the bed's occupant from rolling past each side edge of the bed has been known. Some of these side rails can be raised and lowered manually. Some side rails remain disposed essentially in the same vertical plane as they are raised and lowered. A side rail which folds upon itself in a single vertical plane in accordion-like fashion is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,519 to Hess. However, this configuration could pose a danger to the occupant of the bed due to the multiple hinges connecting the side uprights to the cross rails. In addition, provision must be made at least at one end of the side rail to afford sufficient space for the collapsed upright to rotate 90.degree. from the vertical direction and become positioned in the horizontal direction. This additional space to one end of the side rail effectively dictates the amount of space that can exist between two adjacent side rails. As shown in PCT Publication No. W086/06624 to Hunt, side rails also have been used in connection with articulatable low air loss patient supports. As shown in PCT Publication No. W088/09650 and PCT Publication No. W088/09651 to Vrzalik, non-articulating low air loss beds also are provided with side rails which can be raised and lowered in a vertical plane. Side rails which are raised and lowered by moving in a single vertical plane can operate like a guillotine and cause harm to body parts which may extend over the edge of the patient support when the side rail is being raised or lowered. As applied to a fluidized patient support system, which broadly speaking is a type of bed, shown in FIGS. 4 of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,564,965, 4,672,699, and 4,776,050 to Goodwin, other side rails can be raised and lowered by being pivoted at one edge about a longitudinal axis of the side rail. Such pivoting side rails can only be raised and lowered where sufficient space exists to accommodate the full height of the side rail as it rotates between the raised and lowered positions.